Breitling Navitimer 8 Automatic 41
A first foray into brave new worlds
Watch brands rarely undergo all-encompassing overhauls, but that’s exactly what Georges Kern has overseen at Breitling since he became CEO last year. At a presentation in Zurich in February, he said that the brand — famed for pilot watches such as the iconic Navitimer 1 — was going to speak to a wider audience, be more inclusive and recapture Breitling’s former glamour.
There is a new “squad” of brand ambassadors that includes Brad Pitt and Adam Driver (and expands to feature elite athletes, explorers and surfers, among others), its redesigned stores will henceforth be referred to as “lofts”, sexy bombshell advertising campaigns have been discontinued, and each watch will come from one of three “worlds”: Air, Land or Sea. A force of radical change, Kern said that Breitling, founded in 1884, needed to work on “decomplexity”, stating that the overall number of references would be reduced.
For dedicated fans of Breitling — and there are many — it’s a lot to process. But what of the watches themselves? Well, they’re really rather good.
The first clutch, the Navitimer 8 collection — after its Huit Aviation Department that produced cockpit instruments in the Thirties and Forties — comprises watches inspired by Breitlings of old. “We’re reminding people where Breitling came from,” says creative director Guy Bove. “It’s the celebration of the early tool watches, chronographs and classic timepieces, we’re taking people back to this time. But the idea is not to remake old watches again, I see it more as taking raw ingredients from older models and using them in new recipes.”
The 41mm Navitimer 8, a joyfully simple three-hand-and-date, is available in black or brushed steel on a bracelet or leather strap, and runs on the COSC-certified Breitling calibre 17, offering a 40-hour power reserve. “With the Navitimer 8,” says Bove, “we wanted to create a watch that was in line with our vision for the brand’s future, but which would also pay tribute to the great Breitling watches of the early to mid-20th century. From a design perspective, it occupies a unique position between Huit’s onboard clocks and the Navitimer.”
£3,000; breitling.com